Victory Gardens Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, announces the one-night-only special event,An Evening with Tony Award-Winning Composer Jeanine Tesori. The event will be held on Monday, September 25 at 7:30 pm at the Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets, priced at $100, may be purchased at victorygardens.org.

Spend an evening celebrating the work of Tony Award-Winning composerJeanine Tesori, one the most prolific composers of our time. Through conversation and musical performances led by Fun Home Music Director, Doug Peck, explore Tesori’s musical accomplishments including Caroline, or Change; Shrek the Musical, Violet, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and of course, Fun Home. Victory Gardens Theater will present the Regional Premiere of Fun Home, with music written by Tesori, book and lyrics written by Lisa Kron and directed by Gary Griffin, September 19 – November 12, 2017.

Jeanine Tesori has composed music for Fun Home (2015 Tony Award winner); Violet; Caroline, or Change; Shrek the Musical; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Twelfth Night (LCT); John Guare’s A Free Man of Color. Delacorte: Mother Courage (starring Meryl Streep). Opera: A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto, Tony Kushner; Glimmerglass); The Lion, the Unicorn and Me (libretto, J.D. McClatchy; Washington National Opera). Her songs are featured in the Netflix revival of Gilmore Girls. She is the artistic director/co-founder of A Broader Way, an arts empowerment program for girls from underserved communities; the founding artistic director of Encores! Off-Center; and a lecturer in music at Yale University and Columbia University. Ms. Tesori is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Doug Peck is the winner of six Joseph Jefferson Awards and two After Dark Awards. Some of his favorite projects as musical director, conductor, arranger, and orchestrator include The Jungle Book, Caroline, or Change, Porgy and Bess, Wonderful Town, Dreamgirls, Carousel,Grey Gardens, Guys and Dolls, and Candide. Peck can be heard on the recordings, Bright Young People: The Songs of Noël Coward and Loving, Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein. He is a creative partner with Goodman Theatre, where he also runs the Musical Theatre Intensive Program for gifted high school musical theatre artist-citizens.

An Evening with Tony Award-Winning Composer Jeanine Tesori will be held one-night-only on Monday, September 25 at 7:30 pm at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Individual tickets are priced at $100 and available at victorygardens.org.

About Fun Home at Victory Gardens Theater

Victory Gardens Theatre begins its 43rd season with Fun Home, with music written by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics written by Lisa Kron and directed by Gary Griffin. Fun Home runs September 19 – November 12, 2017, with the press performance on Wednesday, September 27, 2017, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater,2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Tickets, priced $15 – $75, are available at victorygardens.org or by calling 773.871.3000.

Hailed as one of Broadway’s most original musicals and the winner of 5 Tony Awards, Fun Home is a groundbreaking story inspired by Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir. In this intimate musical, Alison sets out to unravel the many mysteries of her childhood through a series of memories and conversations – from her coming out to her moving journey to acceptance. Gary Griffin (Hand to God, Never the Sinner) directs this emotionally charged family drama that The New York Timescalls “extraordinary,” and “a rare beauty.”

About Victory Gardens Theater

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.